Christ United Methodist Church offers Celebrate Recovery program

Christ United Methodist Church in Bethel Park is reaching out to the community with a new program, Celebrate Recovery, designed to help people overcome hurt, habits and hang-ups. The program will kick off at 7 p.m. Jan. 28. There is no registration fee and the program will run weekly and include a large group worship session followed by smaller group discussions.

Celebrate Recovery encourages and celebrates God’s healing power in our lives through the Eight Recovery Principles from the Beatitudes of the New Testament, and the 12 biblical steps of recovery. The term “recovery” doesn’t just apply to drugs or alcohol. In fact, there are many hurts, hang-ups and habits that can affect a person, and prevent them from leading a life of purpose and joy: overworking, perfectionism, overspending, anger/rage and more.

The program, started 20 years ago at Saddleback Church in Southern California, was designed to help those struggling with hurts and habits by showing them the loving power of Jesus Christ through a recovery process. This program is distinctly Christian, uncompromisingly biblical, and proven to work within the church. It has clearly brought people together to discover a new level of care, acceptance, trust and grace.

To date, Celebrate Recovery has helped more than 17,000 people at Saddleback, and is now in more than 19,000 churches worldwide. This program helps people change and become willing to accept God’s grace in solving their problems and making better decisions in their lives.

CUMC staff and volunteers have been preparing to bring this ministry to the community for nearly a year and several members have had the opportunity to participate in the program. “Celebrate Recovery gave me the tools to admit, accept and let God heal my hurts, habits and hang-ups. It has provided new relationships with fellow Celebrate Recovery participants and healed my relationship with others,” commented one member.

More information can be found by calling Cindy Schneider at 412-835-6621 or visiting www.christumc.net.